Sometimes Diabetes Takes Center Stage

Mental Health Journey Continued

July 13, 2016

I think this may be my last “I need to write about every appointment” blog post. The appointments will still happen, but as there are less new doctors, the appointments become more privately medical, discussing things I may not want to share here. This is not to say I will never write about an appointment ever again. If you ever have any questions about my mental health & diabetes journey, please don’t hesitate to ask! You can follow my mental health journey here and here.

It was one of those days where everything had been prepared the night before, but when you wake up 5 minutes before you’re supposed to leave, it’s hard to feel like you have a grip on your day. But I was excited and intrigued for this new diabetes therapist, so we kept the changed schedule and off I went to Joslin.

Due to the recommendation based on his work with the college transition group, I assumed he would be young. He’s not.

He asked why I was there. I didn’t know.

We briefly talked about when I had seen the previous therapist and updates on her notes. He mentioned her name with respect, so I left it at, “we were not a good fit.”

We talked about how I’m feeling with the Dexcom again.

He told me stats on how many times people with diabetes think about diabetes per day. No wonder we all get burned out from time to time.

We talked about what my burnout symptoms are. And am I completely out? (No.)

He asked what I think the biggest upcoming challenge will be with diabetes. This was a question that I have never been asked before, but hopefully will lessen the burnout if I am pre-aware.

We talked about how I am in the most at-risk group of people with diabetes because I am on this journey alone. I do all the care, all the thinking and everything by myself. It doesn’t feel like that to me because I have wonderful friends & family both with and without diabetes who are supportive. But this is a journey I mostly take by myself. (This is when I almost needed the tissue box.) I had never looked at it this way before, and it’s intimidating.

We discussed how no matter what, diabetes is a roller coaster. But we want it to look like a kiddie ride rather than a Six Flags one and he giggled at me. And nodded in agreement.

All of a sudden an hour had gone by and it was time for me to leave. In a few days I’ll be scheduling more appointments with him, but we need to check a few other appointments first. I feel so much better than the first time I saw a diabetes therapist, but I’m not out of the woods. I’m so glad people reached out to me to say, “That therapist doesn’t seem like the right fit for you. Have you thought about trying to find another?” I probably wouldn’t feel as good, helped and supported as I do today without you.